Dr. Denise Diaz Payán PhD, MPP is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health, Society, and Behavior at the University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine) Joe C. Wen School of Population & Public Health. She is the principal investigator of the Community Health & Innovative Policy (CHIP) Lab and Faculty Director of the state-wide research translation center California Initiative for Health Equity & Action (Cal-IHEA). She serves on the editorial board for the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Dr. Payán is a health policy researcher whose interests include: examining health policy adoption and implementation; evaluating interventions to address obesity and nutrition-related health disparities; and understanding how policy impacts health behavior. Dr. Payán has led and collaborated on process and impact evaluations and community-engaged studies implemented in a variety of settings (i.e., schools, faith-based organizations, safety net health centers). Her work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), UC Office of the President Research Grants Program Office, and the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) and the Banatao Institute.
Research interests: health policy; obesity; nutrition; food security; state policy; advocacy coalitions; evaluation; implementation; global health
Links: UCI Profile | Pubmed | Google Scholar